The Holy Day
Congregation The Canterbury Cathedral. One of the oldest and most famous Christan structures in the England. At least, it had been. While Christanity is still practiced in today's society, it is nowhere as near popluar or influential as it had been before the appearance of Quirks. This has led to offical Christan organizations disbanding, resulting in a plethora of churches and cathedrals being abandoned. Most of these structures tend to be torn down in order to make room for other buildings or turned into tourist attactions, acting as a reminder of the "Pre-Quirk Era". However, this was not the case for Canterbury Cathedral. Not only was the structure in excellent condition, but it was also still being used. There were hundreds of people currently sitting within the sanctuary, dressed in white robes with their faces being covered by the hood. Their attention was directed towards the podium as a similarly cloaked man stood before them, his face being unveiled towards the people. "Good morning, my brothers and sisters!" The man said with a grin etched across his face. "How are we on this fine Sunday morning?" "We are doing great, Father Maxwell!" The crowd replied with their own enthusiasm, putting their hoods down. The smiling faces of men, women, and even children could be seen throughout the sanctuary as the excitement of the crowd mirrored that of Father Maxwell. "Excellent. That's glorious to hear." The aforementioned Maxwell clapped his hands together, eyeing each and every person who was within his vision. Taking a breath, Maxwell composed himself before focusing back on the waiting crowd. "However, the news I have will make it even better." The sound of curious murmurs could be heard as the members of the church conversed with each other. What news did Father Maxwell have to share with them? What could possibly brighten their already great day? The possibilities were endless and turned their curiosity into excitement once again, resulting in the quiet muttering becoming louder as time passed on. "Settle down, my brothers and sisters! I can't possibly regal the good news to you if you can't hear me." Hearing the words of Maxwell, the talking began to dwindle down until there was silence once more. Maxwell gave a nod of appreciation as he pulled out a document from within his robe. "As I've stated before, I have news that will send you all soaring high! For you see, we have been approved by the high-ups!" Revealing the documents to the crowd, Maxwell's grin grew with glee. Following the revelation, the crowd exploded in celebration as people hugged one another, tears of joy could be seen, and grins were plastered on the face of everyone. "Yes, my brothers and sisters!" Maxwell continued, letting the document fall onto the ground without a care. "We have been approved to go to war!" Upon finishing his statement, the walls of the cathedral opened up with a hiss of smoke to reveal an arsenal of weapons and equipment. There was a multitude of options for people to choose from such as swords, spears, axes, and various firearms and artillery. With a sick grin on their face, the crowd raced towards the walls in order to arm themselves. It was quite clear that these weren't individuals attempting to emulate the Christians of the Pre-Quirk Era but zealots who were in pursuit of a goal. "Arm yourself to the teeth for our mission is the crusade of the world! God has chosen us to act out on his will!" Father Maxwell said with a look of madness within his eyes. "The rest of the world has been corrupted as a result of these "Quirks", the curse of the Devil!" He snarled with anger, slamming his fist down onto the podium with such force it broke. "Lucifer's seed has spread through our once beautiful Eden! The gift God has graciously bestowed upon us, the Earth!" "They refer to us as the "Quirkless", thinking of us as a blight on their tainted society!" Maxwell's speech caused the people to cheer, raising their spirits as they were ready to go to war with the world. This will be a grand debut to their righteous crusade. "We are Pure! The chosen children of God who will purge the unclean and demons that walk in the mortal world! FOR WE ARE...!" His fellow members joined him as they announced the name of their organization, uncaring to any who heard them. "THE SOCIETY OF LIGHT!" Holy Crusade Gaion sat atop the cathedral, everything that had been spoken he heard. He twisting his hand across his horns as, a habit of his he picked up as a young kid. The Society of Light was what they called themselves and they were rather loyal to their beliefs. To the naked eye, it looked like Christianity still had a chance to survive in this world, but to those that knew their stuff, this was nothing more than a cover-up for something else. He sighed and threw his face into his palm. Gaion had been following this group quite some time. Once he almost got caught, but as the Number Four hero as far as England was concerned, he dealt with the threats with minimal effort. "A war?" He asked himself under his breath, lifting a set of binoculars to his face which gave him a clear view of everything that had been going on inside. A new piece of tech he'd acquired from America and it had surely been coming in handy right now. The hero continued to survey the group a few more minutes before their meeting had seemingly come to a close. "Well," he said, standing to his feet twirling his mace over his head then resting it over shoulders. "It seems they've managed to wrap up their little meeting." His British accent affecting each word that fell from his tongue. "Oh?" Eyebrow lifting, he couldn't help but notice the small figure dressed in the same cloak of the people from this church. The small cloaked figure was currently drawing on the ground, using chalk as their tool. They were clearly focused on making their draw perfect as after a mistake, they would pull out a rag in order to erase it before redrawing until it was good enough to move on. This continued for several moments as Gaion realized that they were drawing a stylized version of the cross within a circle. Upon finishing, the figure stood up and clapped their hand together as the symbol began to glow in a radiant light. The light grew brighter with each passing moment as a powerful gust of wind passed by, pushing the hood back to reveal the figure was a young blonde-haired girl. A look of concentration was displayed on her face as a large group of armed individuals led by a man wearing a suit of armor appeared in a mist of light. The girl ran up to the armored man and gave him a hug as he laughed and picked her up, holding her to the sky. As he did so, he noticed Gaion sitting atop of the cathedral and placed the blonde girl down as she ran into the building. He turned towards the men behind barked orders at them before they ran off as well. Facing the Gaion once more, he called out with a confident smirk. "Well, are you going to stay up there or shall you defile the earth with your presence?" "Oh, no my good sir!" Gaion waved at the man with his free hand, meeting him from the distance with a grand smile. "If the holy says the earth will be defiled if I come down, then it'd be best I stay up here. I how are you today, as a religious man, that is the proper way to greet someone is it not?" Even though Gaion had seemed to be friendly with the man, he remained on guard. Only a few seconds had passed since he'd scouted the cathedral so he had been aware that there had still been plenty of people within who could attack him at any moment. He studied them for months and even though he never saw their best in combat, he knew that they were a threat he wanted to pick apart if he could. "Who's the little girl if I may ask, sir?" "She is one of the few who have been blessed by God himself. A human with the powers of an angel." He tightened his grip on the greatsword within his hands, focusing entirely on Gaion atop of the cathedral. Despite his casual tone, his gaze was filled with contempt as though he was restraining himself at the current moment. "I would suggest that you leave now. Your presence is undesired and if you choose to stay..." He let the threat hang in the air as he heaved his weapon to rest on his shoulder. It was quite clear what he was insinuating towards the Hero. "It's a free country, aye?" Gaion said, bending his knees then leaping from the roof of the cathedral onto the ground a few meters away from the man who spouts his treats. "You know, there's nothing more hypocritical than the people of religion. But I won't dabble in those matters, not really my field of expertise." For a moment his eyes fell upon the girl once again. "A human with powers of an angel." He repeated in attempts to grasp the concept. "Blessed by God? Are you referring to quirks, Maxwell? I've been studying you all for quite some time, it'd do me a favor if you'd save me the time of hypothesizing." The man laughed aloud, nearly toppling over at the hero's statement. He eventually regained himself, calming down and wiping the tears from his eyes before grinning at Gaion. "Unlike your "Quirks", she has been blessed by light as foretold by the Pope! Her Divine Gate allowed us to come here to start our glorious crusade bathed in radiance." His grin turned menacingly, making his face shift into a rather demonic look—an ironic description for someone proclaiming to be on a mission from God. "You got the name wrong, by the way. I am not Father Maxwell, I am Paladin Roland of the Knights Hospitallers!" In a single stroke, Gaion drew his notebook from his pocket and began to jot down notes. "Right! Paladin Roland..." he said, pen striking the surface of the paper. "Of the Knights Hospitallers!" Nodding his head, he looked up to Roland. "And tell me, what is a Divine Gate and how does one go about being blessed by the light? It seems like a very well structured chain of events, I may even consider partaking in this Holy Selection." Finger flicking, "After all, you are people of the God. If there is something that could benefit mankind, sure you lot would be the first to make it accessible by all, no?" Roland chuckled with mirth, understanding what Gaion was attempting to do. "Unfortunately for you, that is all the information that I will give to you for free." Without warning, he swung his greatsword with incredible force as it sliced through the air with ease, unleashing a compressed blade of air pressure heading towards Gaion with the intention of slicing him in half. Before giving Roland a verbal response, Gaion lifted his mace and spun it between his fingers creating a countering wind barrier against Roland's attack. With a swing of his mace, he split the air pressure in half so that he himself could dodge any damage done by it. "That doesn't seem very... holy-like, Roland. I thought people of God were entitled to give information for free. Have times changed the religion as well?" Bending slightly, Gaion tapped to top of the building then stood straight again. "Why can't we settle this peacefully. Maybe we could talk it out over tea and crumpets?" "Very well, let's settle this peacefully. You stand there and I shall kill you like the corrupted you are!" Despite the heavy armor he wore, Roland displayed incredible speed and ability as he leaped into the air, landing on a nearby window before rushing up the wall with his sword drawn. As he neared the peak of the surface, he kicked off of the wall once more and soared towards Gaion with the intention of cleaving him in two. "Prepare yourself for the end!" Roland cried out with a grin. "This could've all been so simple..." Gaion claimed, lifting his fingers up and as he did, a portion of the building split up in the form of a wall to shield him from the attack of Roland. His intent was not to stop the strike, as Roland simply cut right through it, but it granted him the split second he needed to kick off and pushed himself backward. Swinging his mace over his head, he slammed the end of it into the roof, destroying it. However, rather than falling down, the rubble levitated and broke down into sharp shards of earth. With his mental command, Gaion guided the barrage of shards at Roland at every angle possible. Roland scowled at the sight of Gaion breaking destroying a portion of the roof and using said debris as a form of attack. The desecration of the cathedral sent his anger sky-high but he calmed himself down, knowing he couldn't afford to lose his head against the No.4 Hero within the United Kingdom. Tightening his grip on his blade as he repositioned it, Roland twisted hilt of the sword like it was a motorcycle handlebar. Immediately, a high-powered burst of air pressure exploded from a vent within the blade, making it jet ahead to intercept the shards in front of him with a powerful cleave. He turned his body in tandem with the sword, performing a complete 360-degree turn as he continued to slice through a majority of the shards which were heading towards him. There were several which had directly hit him but, thanks to the durability of his armor, the damage was mitigated. Landing on the roof as a result of his momentum being killed by his actions, Roland positioned his sword as though he was preparing to perform a two-handed thrust and twisted the hilt of his greatsword once more while doing so. The result was another compressed burst of air pressure, though it was noticeably large and more akin to a large bullet instead of a slash, that would surely knock Gaion down from his position. Flipping his mace once again, Gaion brought it in front of himself and mimicked Roland's actions, but instead of two hands, he only needed once. Twisting his wrist as though he'd been flicking it, he spun his mace a solid one hundred and eighty degrees, releasing a bullet of wind that would collide with Roland's own and send a shockwave throughout the nearby area. Cloak lifting in the wind, Gaion dropped his mace to his side but kept hold of its handle, smashing the roof of the building even further summoning more shards of earth at his side. Eight giant chucks of the build levitated over his head before spinning and chipping off into long sharp stakes. With but a simple movement of his finger, the stakes ripped through the air locked onto Roland hoping to pierce through his body. "I've got to figure out what his ability is." Gaion thought to himself glaring. "Now... what would Desmond do?" Undeterred at the incoming projectiles, Roland rushed forth as the clattering of the roof tiles could be heard with each step he took. Holding his greatsword with one hand, he displayed his strength and agility as he twisted and leaped to avoid being skewered like a piece of meat and batted away the ones he wasn't able to dodge, altering their trajectory to where they were embedded in the room. Wielding his weapon with both hands once again, Roland performed a horizontal slash whilst twisting the hilt of the sword in order to unleash another blade of compressed air in the direction of Gaion. However, it wasn't aimed towards him. It was instead aimed towards the area he rested on, rushing forth in order to slice through the portion of the structure as well as disrupt his footing. He quickly followed up with a vertical rising slash to unleash a second blade of compressed air afterward. The sudden disruption of his footing would distract him long enough for the follow-up attack to close in. "Grand Cross!" Roland cried out as he observed his tactic being brought to fruition. "Shit!" Gaion shouted, tipping on his toe as the building came down on him. He was no Magician and because his quirk did not grant him any levitating abilities, he would fall down due to gravity. Even then, he would not give up. Flipping over in the air as he descended, Gaion utilized his mace as a sort of propeller, pushing him through the air so that he could land back to his feet safely. Mace at his side, he waited for Roland's next move to determine what he himself should do against it. Positioning his greatsword behind him, Roland ran forward as with each step, he gained more momentum towards the hero in front of him. However, at his last step, Roland glided on the heel of his foot while revving the hilt of his sword to unleash a burst of air behind him. Immediately, Roland jettisoned forward in an unreal show of acceleration, becoming a black blur. As he soared across the roof, Roland continuously spun his body in a full circle as he became a spinning top of death. With each spin, he unleashed a compressed blade of air pressure and closed in on Gaion. By the time he was within range to attempt cleaving his adversary in half, he had already unleashed six projectiles towards the hero with the power to slice him in half. Flipping his mace over his fingers, Gaion moved his weapon with finesse in ways that allowed him to disperse some of the wind currents in his own way. Turning around in his own spinning manner, Gaion thrust forward with his mace releasing another compressed bullet of wind that would, with the sudden snap of his fingers, explode into a burst of wind strong enough to knock a traffic light from its bolting. Gaion had mostly opted for the defense, but now, it was time for him to take control and give Roland an offensive threat he'd never faced before. Now on the solid ground, Gaion spun his mace over his head and slammed the tip of it into the concrete shattering it as though it were but a sheet of glass. The shattered earth lifted up and as he leaped backward, the pieces transformed into sharp shards that bombarded Roland once again. "If I didn't know any better my good sir, I'd only assume that you were trying to kill me." Through his mental command, a portion of the many shards gathered and transformed into earth tendrils which sought to pierce Roland in each of the four cardinal directions. "Trying to kill you?" Roland parroted with a mocking grin before using the flat of his greatsword as a makeshift shield to take the brunt of Gaion's counterattack, being pushed back slightly as a result of the force. Upon seeing the three earthen tendrils within his vision coming towards him, Roland dashed back in an attempt to avoid being hit, completely unaware of the fourth tendril coming from behind. It slammed into his armor with enough force to nearly piece through, pushing Roland forward due to the speed and power behind the tendril. He could feel one of his ribs crack from the sheer power of the blow. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Roland dug his sword into the ground as he pushed forward by the tendril, knowing he needed to react carefully if he didn't want to be skewered. As Roland saw the other tendrils approaching him, he kicked off of the ground with enough force to unlodge himself from the tendril which pierced his armor and leap into the air with mere seconds to spare. Soaring above the roof, Roland called out in mirth whilst gripping his sword tightly. "No, I'm going to purge you!" Swinging his greatsword down, Roland tightened his muscles as he used the peak of his strength in tandem with the cranking of the sword hilt to unleash another blade of compressed air. However, unlike before, it was possible for Gaion to see the very air follow the movement of the sword swing as it took form into a large version of the projectile he had been seeing throughout their battle. It was big enough to cover the entire roof section as it charged forth with the speed of a freight train and would demolish Gaion and the very roof he stood on. "Take my strongest Sword Pressure!" Roland screamed. Gaion was fascinated with Roland's movements and as such, had not prepared himself from a counter. But then again, how could he prepare himself? In how Gaion displayed his arsenal of powers, he was not a speed type. His quirk--''Alter''--allowed him to alter the form and control anything he touched as seen with how he was able to use the rubble of the building. Even then, he was not about to leave his fate up to giving up. Spinning the mace over his head once again, he released a burst of wind which caused the earth itself to crush under its pressure. At his current display of abilities, one could have easily been misled into believing he had some sort of air manipulating quirk. The clouds spread apart and whirled around like a fresh placement of whip cream. "I should be able to change its trajectory if I use my own pressurized force to split it in half." With an overhead strike as though he wielded a broadsword, Gaion swung his compressed strike at Roland's own. And just as he had intended, it split Roland's own in half. However, not in the way, he had intended. Roland's power was seeming compression while, as mentioned, Gaion's was terraforming in a sense. At the moment that his slash was split, it formed together and beamed like a flash of light in front of him. "Damn," The hero thought to himself. Images of his family and daughter flickered as though it were a face-paced slide show. A smile crept onto his face. "That's it." The pressurized blast devoured Gaion, ripping his skin down to the white meat. Eyes squinting and lip bitten, he tried to take the full force and at the very last moment, he utilized the controlled rubble to form around his body like a layer of armor. Roland watched in silence as Gaion and the roof of the Canterbury Cathedral were consumed by the devastating force of his Sword Pressure, resulting in rubble and debris falling into the interior of the building. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about any of the followers being hurt as before he even clashed with the No. 4 Hero of the United Kingdom, Roland ordered his men to evacuate the members of the Society of Light through the underground system which lead directly into town. It was what they planned in the first place but they had to move a little fast due to interference. Landing within the now ruined cathedral with a loud thud, Roland let out a sigh of annoyance as he looked around for Gaion. Until he had vision of the hero's body, he wouldn't allow his guard to be dropped. "I doubt you are dead after that. I'm sure you survived like the cockroach you are." Roland exclaimed, moving a piece of debris to search for Gaion. Category:Arukana Category:EmperorSigma Category:Role-Plays